It also emerged this afternoon that Rhys' mother cradled her son in her arms as he lay dying.

Rhys was in the car park of the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth, Liverpool, when a hooded figure approached on a BMX bike and fired three shots. He died in hospital.

Gordon Brown condemned the shooting as a "heinous crime that shocked the whole of the country," adding: "The people responsible will be tracked down, arrested and punished."

Family friend and children's football coach Tony Edge, 40, told how he took Rhys' mother Melanie to the "horrific" scene after another coach called to tell him what had happened.

He said: "She went to him, knelt down, held him and spoke to him."

The Liverpool City Council worker said he usually gave Rhys - who lived with his mum, father Stephen and brother Owen, 17 - a lift home from weekly training.

But because he arrived home late from work last night Mr Edge did not attend practice and Rhys walked home.

He said: "I am just in shock; we haven't really slept."

He said after being told about the shooting he rushed to the youngster's home.

"Melanie grabbed her keys and came in the car with me and we raced to the car park. I was there before the ambulance crews got there and it was absolutely horrific.

"There was another little lad from the footy team who saw it. He was upset and I was trying to get him to stop looking at Rhys.

"Rhys' mum was with him and they waited for the ambulance . I don't know what she was saying to him because I walked away from it.

"Rhys was a great little player, a midfielder and he also played forward - I don't know if he was actually walking home alone. I just can't get my head around it; he was only walking home from training.

"His mum and dad would come and watch him play football and his mum would give him £10 every time he scored so he always wanted to play up front. He was a very good footballer, he was a lovely kid and funny."

Mr Edge said there was an issue between two gangs in Croxteth but he claimed Rhys had absolutely nothing to do with them.

He said: "You can't mention Rhys in the same breath as gang culture.

"Rhys and his friends even stayed away from local teenagers because they scared them. He has been in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Witnesses said the boy, who died in hospital, was shot in the neck by a "local gang member".

A parent who was at the match said: "The game had just finished when we heard a loud bang and nobody thought anything more of it.

"But as we walked past the Fir Tree pub we noticed a young boy slumped in the corner of the car park.

"Somebody shouted out that he had been shot and a few parents tried to resuscitate him - but he died before the ambulance arrived."

The area around the Fir Tree is notorious for its high levels of gun-crime and gang-related incidents and police are trying to crack-down on anti-social behaviour. They have imposed a curfew at bus stops to curb outbreaks of trouble.

The Croxteth Park Estate was formerly the biggest private housing estate in Western Europe. It was built in the mid 1980s and comprises bungalows, detached and semi-detached houses.

Many residents on the estate spoke about living increasingly in the shadow of gun crime and the Merseyside police gun crime unit, Matrix, was set up two years ago to tackle the problem.

Rhys's school will opened a book of condolence and offer counselling to pupils when they return following the summer break.

"He was also very bright and had just done very well in his SATs. He had a wonderful future ahead of him and it is absolutely terrible that it seems his life has been cut short because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said.